Barbosa’s best lap in the No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP he shares with co-driver Terry Borcheller came in the morning session at 1:15.630 (107.100 mph). His best lap of the afternoon was a 1:16.616 (105.722 mph). This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of the No. 9 teammates’ last victory, which came at Virginia International Raceway.

“Today doesn’t mean much, but it definitely feels good to start the event in a good position,” Barbosa said. “The Action Express guys have been working really hard and it’s paying off. I’m really anxious to return to victory lane. These guys deserve another win.”

Second quickest on the day was Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 SunTrust Corvette DP at 1:15.796 (106.866 mph). Taylor’s co-driver is Max Angelelli. Defending race and series champion Scott Pruett was third at 1:15.848 (106.793 mph) in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley he co-drives with Memo Rojas.

#70 Speedsource Mazda RX-8: Jonathan Bomarito, Sylvain Tremblay

Photo by: Grand-Am

In the GT class, co-drivers Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito are looking for their third consecutive New Jersey Motorsports Park victory and got their pursuit off to a terrific start. Bomarito turned the fastest GT lap of the day at 1:22.088 (98.675 mph) in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/Mazda/ModSpace/Castrol Mazda RX-8. Bomarito’s best lap also came in the morning session.

Jordan Taylor was second quickest on the day in GT with a morning lap at 1:22.100 (98.660 mph) in the No. 88 Autohaus Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GT.R. Dane Cameron led the afternoon GT session in the No. 42 TheRaceSite.com Mazda RX-8 he co-drives with Wayne Nonnamaker at 1:22.601 (98.062 mph). Cameron’s best lap of the day, however, was a 1:22.185 (98.558 mph) in the morning, which placed him third on the combined GT chart. Qualifying for the Global Barter 250 presented by Susan G. Komen For The Cure takes the green flag at 11:45 a.m. ET on Saturday, with the race scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.